Spookyfish
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| “Spookyfish” | |
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| South Park episode | |
 A frame showing 'Spooky Vision' being used |
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 28 |
| Written by | Trey Parker |
| Directed by | Trey Parker |
| Production no. | 215 |
| Original airdate | October 28, 1998 |
| Season 2 episodes | |
| South Park - Season 2 April 1, 1998 – January 20, 1999 |
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| ← Season 1 | Season 3 → |
| List of South Park episodes | |
"Spookyfish" is the 28th episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It was originally broadcast on October 28, 1998. It was the season's Halloween special, with a "spooky" theme by having pictures of Barbra Streisand in the screen corners, accompanied with the words "spooky vision".
According to the official website and the DVD set, the episode's title is "Spookyfish". Other sources occasionally refer to it as "Spooky Fish".
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[edit] Plot synopsis
It is near Halloween in South Park, and as usual strange things are happening. Cartman skips class but shows up at the bus stop to meet the boys when then get off the bus- wearing a goatee and acting strangely agreeable. He goes on to explain that he missed school that day because he was taking care of his mother, who has the flu. Later, when Stan and Kyle meet up with him to go buy a pumpkin, he is back to his normal obnoxious self (arguably even more so with his new catchphrase, "Hella"). Throughout the episode he continues to switch between these two personas, thoroughly confusing all involved.
Meanwhile, Stan's mother's "Aunt Flo" has come to town for her "monthly visit", and the fish she gives Stan as a present begins to murder people in the night. Thinking that Stan had killed them, Sharon buries each of the bodies, while muttering to herself how Stan is handsome and a good boy and slowly losing her sanity. She abducts Officer Barbrady to stop him from taking Stan away. He is kept pantless in the basement. Then the goldfish kills Aunt Flo and Sharon is upset she will no longer have her monthly visits. Stan's dad, however, is glad he no longer has to sleep on the couch once a month.
Eventually, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny discover that the two personalities of Cartman are in fact two separate people, and Chef says the kinder version of Cartman is from an "Evil Parallel Universe." Realizing Stan's fish is from the same world, the boys track down the Ancient Indian Burial Ground Pet Store where they find the portal to the alternate universe. After returning the fish to the owner and advising him to move his store off the burial ground, the boys leave — just as the Stan and Kyle from the evil world show up. Just as "evil" Cartman is the complete opposite of his normal self, "evil" Stan and Kyle are both the opposite of their normal selves and are thus cruel, wanting to bring their wussy "friend" Evil Cartman back so they can torment him once more. They align with Good-World-But-Actually-Evil Cartman, who is sick of his goody-two-shoes clone and the trio find Normal Stan and Kyle along with Evil Cartman. In the background of the ensuing showdown, evil animals from the pet store are slaughtering people; this goes unnoticed by most of the main characters, although Sharon is now convinced that Stan's fish did really kill the people in the house.
The evil Stan and Kyle have a "gingification gun" which shoots a beam that sends things back to the alternate world. Good Stan manages to get it and sends back the two clones. He and Kyle then decide to use it on Cartman — their Cartman- so they can keep the nice one. Cartman, shocked by this, then attacks Evil Cartman and rips off his goatee. The two wrestle until Stan and Kyle don't know which is which. One Cartman says that Stan should shoot them both, so as to be sure to get rid of the "real" Cartman. Figuring this one to be the kind one, Stan fires on the other Cartman. Unfortunately he chose wrong; Cartman — the mean one from the real world — knew the two would fall for that trick and happily taunts them, much to their anger.
[edit] Spooky vision
Comedy Central ran an intensive campaign touting this episode being filmed in "Spooky Vision,” with little explanation, claiming only that it was too terrifying to describe. Before the episode was first shown, it was revealed that "Spooky Vision" entailed every frame of this episode having a still photo of Barbra Streisand in the corners. "Spooky Vision" is no longer used when Comedy Central broadcasts repeats of this episode, but it is still used during repeats in syndication, on the Season 2 DVD, and on the streaming episodes available at the official site.
[edit] Kenny's death
Stan's evil fish grabs Kenny while the boys are standing around discussing their tactics, then dragged into the fishbowl head first. He is then spun around violently, first with his feet sticking out of the fishbowl; after the water turns red, his feet get pulled in as well. Then, he is ejected from the bowl just in time for Stan's mother, Sharon, to find Kenny lying dead on the ground with one of his eyes missing and his signature rats feasting on his body. She then starts to pull his body across the floor with the rats still feasting, saying, "My god. What a good boy! What a handsome boy!" Kenny isn't the only one to die in this episode, several others people are killed by the evil pets.
[edit] Cultural references
- The opening scene, which is completely unconnected to the majority of the episode, features a large triangular fronted spaceship moving slowly across the planet Earth. This is a homage to several similar scenes involving Star Destroyers in the Star Wars films.
- Stan's line: "Yeah you know, I never thought it was such a bad little squash, it just needs a little tender love and care," is taken from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (as said by Linus), in reference to the "twiggy" tree that Linus and Charlie Brown pick up at the Christmas Tree lot for the Christmas Musical.
- The scene at the pet store built on top of a Native burial ground where the boys discover a vortex leading to an "evil" universe is a reference to both Poltergeist and Pet Semetary.
- Sharon's reaction to the murders, ("I've got such a good boy, Mommy's little angel") is a parody of the 1956 movie The Bad Seed. Kenny's mother showing up drunk, saying "you'd be drunk too if you'd lost your boy", is also a part of the movie.
- Whenever we see both Cartmans at the same time, there is a fuzzy vertical line between them. This is a reference to the split screen/double exposure technique that was used before modern computer technology to 'duplicate' actors who played their own twins or doppelgängers. The left and right side of the scene (both containing the same actor in different roles) would be filmed independently, one after the other. After the two sides were 'spliced together', there would always be this telltale line, though not as pronounced as portrayed in the episode.
- The scene when Stan is freaked out by his fish staring at him references the scene in "Poltergeist" between Robbie and his clown doll (imagining it is coming closer to him, throwing a shirt over it, the rain and lightning outside).
- Stan's Aunt Flo is the personification of Sharon's menstrual cycle, and her death represents Sharon going into menopause- much to everyone's relief.
[edit] Star Trek references
- Officer Barbrady shows a picture of William Shatner to Sharon Marsh along with the others that have been reported missing.
- The "evil" mirror universe is a direct reference to the Star Trek concept of the same name.
- The "evil" mirror universe Cartman's beard is a direct homage to the mirror universe Spock in the classic Original Series episode Mirror, Mirror.
- The climactic duel between both Cartmans resembles the fight between Captain Kirk and the shapeshifter Garth of Izar in the TOS episode "Whom Gods Destroy." In it, when one Kirk tells Spock to shoot them both, Spock shoots the other one, correctly reasoning that only the real Kirk would make that request. Cartman uses this trick to get the mirror-Cartman zapped back to his universe.
- The goldfish writes "Kill" and other messages on his bowl, reminiscent of the Horta writing "No Kill I" in the TOS episode "The Devil in the Dark."
[edit] External links
- Spookyfish at the South Park Studios Episode Guide
- Spookyfish on TV.com (it is referred to as Spooky Fish).
| Preceded by “Chef Aid” |
South Park episodes | Followed by “Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!” |
